COLUMBIA BOTTOMLANDS

ABOUT THE COLUMBIA BOTTOMLANDS

As thick as a forearm, grapevines reach across hundred
year-old oaks. A spot of sunlight ripens a banquet of dewberries. The brash
colors of a scarlet Indian paintbrush are muted among the purples, pinks and
blues of the multitude of wildflowers. And a host of insects find shelter in
the dangling, tentacled Spanish moss.

Every year, about 29 million individual migratory birds pass
through the Columbia Bottomlands. After a grueling northern migration
flight of more than 400 miles, the birds’ first site of safety and shelter is a
thick forest along the southeast Texas coast. Having lost as much
as 1/3 of their body weight, the birds stop to feed and rest in this wet and
low-lying, insect-rich area. The thick canopy hides them from soaring
predators, such as hawks and kites. Following an internal compass, these
millions of migratory birds return every year counting on the bounty of the
bottomlands to refuel and refresh them before they continue their perilous
journey north.

2) The area is an important stopover habitat for migrating
neotropical birds like hummingbirds, warblers, thrushes and orioles.

3) One of the state’s oldest and largest live oak trees
resides in the Columbia Bottomlands.

4) Once covering over a thousand square miles, the
bottomlands have been reduced to 250 square miles. Thankfully, the U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service have begun a program to conserve the area.

5) The 46-acre palm tract contains the last remaining
examples of the Brazoria palm, a native tree unique to the Columbia Bottomlands
that grows up to 20 feet high.

6) Brazos Bend State Park, one of the most heavily used
state parks in the region, boasts over 5,000 acres and is located on one of the
bottomland’s coastal prairies, the floodplains of the Brazoria River.

7) Hudson Woods is one of the most beautiful and accessible
areas of the Columbia Bottomlands. Open to the public year-round, it offers an
oxbow lake and a two-mile walking trail for recreation.

Houston Wilderness

HOUSTON WILDERNESS is a broad-based alliance of business, environmental and government interests that acts in concert to Create opportunities to preserve 10 ecoregions by Convening, Problem-Solving & Educating.